Infamous cyclist’s mammoth fundraising efforts for cancer research outweigh doping scandal, in eyes of most fans on Mount Royal.

Lance Armstrong speaks to the crowd prior to a run with his fans at Mount Royal park in Montreal on Aug. 29, 2012.

By:David ShermanSpecial to the Star, Published on Thu Aug 30 2012

MONTREAL—There was a love in for Lance Armstrong here last night. The infamous world champion cyclist, just stripped of his record seven Tour de France titles and myriad other championships and records, came to Mount Royal, the park in the centre of the city, the conquering hero and took his fans for a jog around the mountain.

Wearing a tight yellow jersey, a piece of apparel he has grown used to from his years of being awarded it for leading the Tour de France, Armstrong arrived promptly at 6 p.m., was immediately mobbed, said a few words and then broke into a run down the wide gravel road that encircles the mountain.

Behind him, in a cloud of dust swirling in the rays of sun that came through the trees, trotted as many as a thousand of the faithful that had come to join their hero in his bid to put his tarnished image and the bad press behind him.

Armstrong has been honoured and vilified. He is a disgrace and he is a champion, a heartbreaker and an inspiration. But to most on the mountain on this splendid summer night, many dressed in their jogging best — bright and tight spandex — he was a hero. Flawed perhaps, but a man like no other.

“My mom died of cancer,” said Anne Sutherland, a journalist, dressed to run, wiping away a tear. “Before she died he was a huge inspiration to her. I’d say thank you for that.”

Armstrong, 41, beat the world’s best cyclists over and over. He beat cancer and has raised at last count, according to his website, more than $425 million to keep up the fight against the disease.

He flew in in the wake of his personal hurricane — his doping scandal and his lifetime ban from the cycling sport he mastered, to address the Cedar Cancer Institute and the World Cancer Congress and, in his spare time, to invite Montrealers via Twitter to take a 7.5 km jog with him up Mount Royal.

The Tweet was simple: “Hey Montreal – Anyone want to run tomorrow? Meet me at the Monument to Sir George Etienne Cartier. 6pm! 7.5 loop.” And come they did with about a dozen TV camera crews in tow.

Some just refuse to accept that Armstrong was a doper. Others say it simply doesn’t matter.

Said Richard Piché, in from Ottawa and ready to run, “They all take dope so it’s a level playing field and he was simply the best. The man’s awesome.”

Tomas Fernandez, a 39-year-old business analyst, waiting anxiously for Armstrong to show, said, “He passed 500 tests. They’re basing all of this on witnesses. It’s a witch hunt.”

Dominique Paiement, a 23-year-old sports psychologist and a competitive rower, said she came to the mountain to see him and to run with “someone pretty exceptional.”

“He’s a hero surrounded by unfortunate circumstances,” she said. “I think what he did for cancer overshadows the allegations.”

John Kinman, a 34-year-old submarine officer in the U.S. navy and a marathon and ultra marathon runner, came in from his base in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., just to jog a few kilometres in Armstrong’s shadow.

“I came to support Lance and all he’s done and his fight for cancer,” said Kinman. “I don’t believe (all the allegations about doping) but it’s not for me to decide. It’s just amazing that someone can overcome cancer and win the Tour de France seven times.”

If there were any discouraging words, they weren’t on the mountain this evening. But the city’s small but influential French-language daily Le Devoir tore a strip off him this past weekend when it wrote: “Armstrong held the position of chief underground chemist. … (He) is to synthetic drugs what Keith Richards is to hard drugs, a permanent and pedalling laboratory.”

And cancer survivor and sports journalist Mike Farber wrote in Sports Illustrated, “You can worship at the First Church of Lance Armstrong without worrying about the doping. You get to parse Armstrong, taking what you want or what you need.”

But there was nothing but giddiness even as the pack returned, spread out along the mountain, some sweat drenched, some looking as clean and fresh as when they started about 45 minutes earlier.

Daniel Legresley, only slightly damp, but his spirits anything but, said Armstrong stopped all along the route, talked to everyone, answered questions, the consummate good guy.

“He’s a hero, man, a real good guy,” said Legresley. “Nothing’s been proven. He’s a hero. He brought so much to the sport.”

In our pantheon of fallen idols and flawed heroes, Armstrong stands alone. He not only conquered his sport but he bested a killer disease and brought real money to keep up the fight.

“I prefer to think of the positive things,” said Cathy Diamond, a physician in from Toronto for a vacation and on the mountain for a run with her daughter and Armstrong. “I still think there’s a perhaps.”

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